The present invention relates to a junction structure for wave propagation and a wave and a wave half-adder using the same, and more particularly, to a junction structure for wave propagation which permits selective coupling of waves propagating through a junction plane between different wave propagating structures, and a wave diode and a wave half-adder using the same.
Modern high speed optical communication is mainly based on time-reversal symmetry of Maxwell's equations and charge-less properties of photons, and optical materials and devices exhibit linearity resulting from such properties.
However, such linearity of optical materials and devices becomes a hindrance for an optical logic device or system requiring nonlinearity in application of the optical materials and devices. Thus, various challenges have been made to improve optical nonlinearity, which is a key factor of the logic device, in the optical device and material. For example, various optical nonlinear materials, methods of electromagnetic field focusing, nonlinear functional devices and signal processors, photonic-specific circuit design algorithms have been suggested to use merits of a photonic bandwidth such that all-optical signal processing can be achieved through.
However, despite such efforts having been made in the past, the challenges to obtaining successful integrated digital photonics or photo-tronics still remain in an initial stage and lead to dissatisfactory results. Given this circumstance, electronic engineering has been noticeably developed after introduction of junction structures merits consideration. The junction structure enables highly developed non-reciprocal and nonlinear operation with respect to flow of electric charges by joining structures or materials having different electric potentials so as to provide flexible, systematic and controllable potential energy manipulation to charge carriers passing through a junction plane. The essential applications of the junction structure include current electronic or spintronic devices, for example, diodes, transistors, high level logic processors, and the like.
In order to apply noticeable merits of the junction structure to the field of nano-optics, the wave nature of photons is considered worthy of notice. In particular, orthogonality between well-defined and sufficient eigenmodes of photons must be taken into account. For example, hetero-junction structures having various orthogonal modes can be configured to induce fundamental change in photon propagation through juxtaposition of two optical structures supporting different eigenmodes.
Although photons are mainly mentioned above, there is a need for a junction structure corresponding to an electrical junction structure for all waves including the photons and for a structure of propagating the waves.
The present invention is aimed at providing a junction structure for wave propagation which permits selective coupling of waves propagating through a junction plane between different wave propagation structures, and at providing a wave diode and a wave half-adder using the same.